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Topic: Sausages: where do I start?? (Read 8183 times)

Hi guys, Long time, no see hey! I have been trying to read up on sausages, but im so lost! I have a grinder with stuffer attachment, which is a great place to start i know... i have sausage skins too. WHat i need is a very easy sausage recipe for something plain just to start off with. Beef would be great. The eaiser the better for now. I have made sausage before. About 13yrs ago in college. We made emu snags (debi, u wanted to know of aussie snags ;-)) but ive forgotten everything we did! Any help is appreciated, even a site for beginners would be good!

I recommend you start out by searching through Debi's website - I think she has recipes, etc. there. I know I need to dig in and do some research, too, because I plan on smoking all of our own meat this year. I want to make dried beef when we have our calf butchered, hopefully next month.

Crystal I also have section like here that just show individual sausages. I have never use a phone for websurfing so I have no idea what to tell you. If you give me an idea of what you want to do maybe I could post something here. I don't think John would mind. Can you see an entire thread on a phone? Sausage is my #1 favorite thing to make!

As far as I can tell sausage making is devided to various styles required the mastering the basics of various techniques including proper grinding (in the required size and proper handling of fat portion), stuffing, emulsifying, smoking, drying and fermenting. Once you get the hang of it you can just invent your own stuff in that style you want to creat and play around with spices.If you want to fork out 20$ I recommend the book "Charcuterie".

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Amatuar winemaker,baker, cook and musician not in any particular order.

Professional Charcuterie: Sausage Making, Curing, Terrines, and Ptes John Kinsella (Author) Is not worth buying!

another good book although not just about sausage isGarde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen (Culinary Institute of America) [Hardcover] The Culinary Institute of America (Author) There are two editions get this one:

Sorry, i was too busy making sausages to check back rotfl!! Debi, i made a few from other recipes, all were ok. Each needs tweaking. On he plus side, i found out i have office on my phone, so i can d/l an read ur sausage book! I can see everything on my phone, same as a computer. i have a smart phone. The only thing i cant do is upload pics :-( i really enjoyed making the sausages, and being a meatatarian, sausage and bacon and salami, ham ... all meat really...Mmmmmmm! Pork is very pricey here, so i will stick to beef for now. Also, iys cheaper to buy already mknced meat. I couldnt get chuck yet, the shops dont feel its cold enough... i can tell u now its a chilly 11c here in sydney this morn and im outside freezing my fingers off! K have found my butcher ok for casings, though i think they made a mistake... i was told i would have enough skin for ten kg of snags, but only managed 3kg. Now i doubt i stuffed up that bad that i understuffed and think he didnt give me enough.

I have a question though. Is there some soaking i should be doing before i use them? I have hog casings. And a book i have, which is old, says to soak them in water and vinegar...? Is that still done these days?

You should always wash the caings several time by running water through them they do come from a very nasty place and you want to be sure they are clean. Once you've rinsed them just hold them on a bowl of water with a few drops of vinegar until you use them.

If you don't use then all run them between your fingers to get out as much water as you can then put them in an air tight bag and cover them in salt really well to preserve then. They should last about a year but if they smell weird toss them out.

Funny here beef and lamb are really expensive and pork is less expensive.

I guess all our meat is expensive. Lamb is just a vague memory for us... some of my kids have never tasted it because its become so expensive. Chicken was pretty pricey for a while during the drought, but has come down a bit. Pork... hmm... well, i dont really like pork, so its not something i usually buy, but the prices i saw te other day seemed too much for meat... especially ony budget! Maybe you can tell me soething debi:

Why do bought sausages give me a headache after just one? Its the main reason why i want to make them, cos im sick lf the migranes. But what do they put in them??

I know I'm not Debi, but my guess would be the nitrates, as they are well-known to cause migraine. I believe they are in red wine, too, which is why that is another migraine trigger. I've been fortunate in that most of mine were triggered by hormones and stress, most of which has dissipated over the years. I now get only 1-2 per year (instead of 3-4 a month), mostly due to sinus & nasal allergies.

Thanks for the book recommendations, Debi! I just requested Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing from the library. As we have a steer going to the butcher soon and I want to try making my own corned beef from the brisket and dried beef from the round, this book should come in handy. It will probably inspire me to try other good things, too.

I don't suffer from RWH, but as a winemaker, I have an interest in it. As I understand it, nobody actually knows what caues RWH. Neither sulfites or nitrites in wine have ever been proven to be a cause. White wines often contain more nitrites and sulfites than red wines, yet they don't cause red wine headache. There are numerous foods that contain more nitrites than wine, including shellfish, canned tomatoes, pickles, orange juice, celery, carrots, lettuce, and spinach. So if you can eat these, then it's not the nitrites causing your headaches.

In the context of cured meats and sausages, Michael Ruhlman, the author of Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing that Debi referenced earlier wrote a blog article about a year ago called The "No Nitrites Added" Hoax. It's worth a read. Some bacon and sausage producers are trading on the fear that people have of nitrites and nitrates in cured meats. Some producers claim they don't "add" them, implying that their meats are somehow safer to eat as a result. In reality, their meats do contain nitrites and nitrates from natural sources, such as from celery, which is very high in nitrites. Without the nitrites and nitrates, their products would not be safe to eat.

Your confusing nitrates with sulfits which are completly different substances.As far as I can tell, wine doesnt contain added or naturally accuring nitrate. Red wine headaches are likely allergy driven - histamins,tannins and bi products produced during malolactic fermentation rather then sulfits.

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Amatuar winemaker,baker, cook and musician not in any particular order.

Ok, well i get them from champagne too, and all alcohol when im pregnant. But always snags. Although, i can eat snags that arent fried. So i can eat them in a casserole type dish no trouble. But snags on the bbq, forget it! Im just really hoping i can eat my homemade ones without the headache. I had a few the other night without one. Lets hope it stays that way!

Ok, well i get them from champagne too, and all alcohol when im pregnant. But always snags. Although, i can eat snags that arent fried. So i can eat them in a casserole type dish no trouble. But snags on the bbq, forget it! Im just really hoping i can eat my homemade ones without the headache. I had a few the other night without one. Lets hope it stays that way!

Hi Crystal, I've never heard of snags. Are there other names they go by? I'm thinking that if I liked snags at all, I'm pretty sure I'd like them fried. Most anything is good when its fried.

As for the headaches, maybe it's the alcohol that's causing them. But you never know. If you drink scotch and soda and it gives you a headache, and you drink gin and soda and the same thing happens, then you try rum and soda, bourbon and soda, rye and soda, and so forth, and they all have the same effect, I suppose it is possible the culprit could be the soda.